It's Friday! Only one more Friday of freedom until I'm due back at school...not sure if I feel like that is a high five or low five. Judging by the heart palpitations I have just typing that last sentence I'm gonna go with low five.

I'm linking up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk to celebrate the awesomeness that is Friday. You should too or at least check out the other blogs and leave some comments. Everybody loves comments!

My top five this week:

1. Getting my classroom in some kind of an order. No pictures yet but all my tech is set up and my desk is arranged and organized. I feel like everything else will fall into place within the next week or so.

2. I had my first team meeting in which I was the leader of and it went great! I was super nervous but really had no reason to be. So excited to work with my awesome teammates again this year.

3. Cedar Rapids. Has anyone else seen this movie? I caught it last night and couldn't stop laughing.

4. I bought some more digital scrapbook paper from Moo and Puppy paper shop on Etsy and made some super cute signage and labels for my classroom.


5. The boyfriend has settled into his new job quite nicely and it has been so awesome around here it almost completely erases the four months of awfulness that was Wal-Mart. So happy for that!

Have a great weekend!

My 8th Birchbox arrived last week and I've been enjoying the contents thoroughly.

Birchbox

This box had a pretty sweet full size eyeliner, some B.B. cream (way better than the Garnier version I tried a couple months ago), a hair mask and conditioner, some perfume, a Larabar (which I'm too scared to try after hearing reviews, ha!) and some neon earbuds.

I dig the eyeliner the most even though I'm not wearing much makeup with the 110 degree temps outside but it will be a go to as the temps cool and I head back to work. The hair mask didn't make any miraculous difference on my hair BUT it did smell wonderful. Apparently I love Argan oil...who knew?

What did you get in your box this month?

I've been feeling the urge to be crafty - but not the all day, spend hours on something crafty. I just needed a quick fix. And since school is right around the corner (le sigh) I made something quick and easy that solves a big problem for my teacher desk.

I have too many supplies that I like to keep on my desk (wish I had a picture) I'm totally one of those people who if they put something in a drawer it never sees the light of day again. So my pens, pencils, scissors, etc. need to remain within eyesight. My desk currently has about 3 pencil cups along with a plastic caddy thing that holds remotes, hall passes, and other paraphernalia. So I needed something to wrangle it all together and be pretty at the same time.

Ta-Da!


I love it. A fun pop of color while being totally functional. How do you make it you ask?

1. Buy a lazy Susan (why is Susan so lazy?) I got mine 10% off at the Container Store for $14.36. Probably could have gone a cheaper route but I was really stuck on having at least six buckets on my turntable and this was the first I could find that was big enough...13" if you're wondering.

2. Buy some metal buckets from the Dollar Spot at Target. $7 total.

3. Slap some scrapbook paper on it. I used some tape to hold it down, nothing fancy.


4. Arrange your buckets.


5. Fill and enjoy!


I can't wait to take this to school to fill with more goodies like post-its, paper clips,  and what not. Not bad for $20 bucks and a couple minutes of time.

Have you done any quicky crafting lately? Tell me about it!

Linking up with:

Was it me or was this the quickest week ever? I swear I blinked and it went from Monday to Friday like that!

It's Friday so you know what that means...High Five for Friday party over at From My Grey Desk!

I thought this week was going to be more low fives than high fives but it turns out I had a pretty good week - I just had to look at events in a more positive way. It's all about perspective people.

Without further ado, high fives this week for:

1. Being proactive/healthy. I mentioned I've become quite the gym rat this summer but unfortunately I was sidelined this week (and next) by a pesky little mole.


I was reading Glamour a few months back and they had a whole section about safe sun. They included some pictures of moles to keep an eye and on and wouldn't you know there was a mole pictured that looked eerily similar to one I had on my left upper chest (yep, you're looking at my ta-ta in that pic up there). So instead of shrugging it off (like I had been doing the past five years) I scheduled an appointment with a derm and she said to be safe I would need to get it removed. Which finally happened on Tuesday. You wouldn't think mole removal would keep a person down but due to its ahem location I can't do any lifting or stretching AND I have to wear a sports bra for two weeks 24/7 - definitely a low five on that one.

2. This kid. I only wish my moves were as sweet as his. Captured outside of our Financial Peace University class Monday night.



3. Mexican night at my parent's house complete with sombreros.



4. A nice drive home from our float trip captured some fluffy clouds. So pretty.


5. It's officially official. My Master's is finished. Boo-yah!

Have a great weekend!

This past weekend my family headed out on our first ever float trip. I'm not sure if float trips are popular in other states but in Missouri, it's what you do in the summer time. Grab some friends, a raft, a cooler full of cold brew, and float down the Meramac River.

I was slightly nervous because I've only been floating with friends and never with my family but everything went great despite a little rain Friday night.

Hanging out at the campsite before the rain.

A good thing about floating/camping with your parents - the food is way better. We had nachos, fresh fruit, biscuits and gravy, and some other top notch meals. Sure beats the hot dog/hamburger for every meal when we go with friends. My mom even made jello shots, straight from Pinterest!


It has been insanely hot in the midwest the past few weeks and this was one of the first weekends of temps in the low 90s so everyone and their mom headed to the river. I've never seen the river so packed with people - we heard that there was an estimated 5000 people on the river Saturday!  You could literally walk from raft to raft because people were so close together.


Our 5 mile float took almost 7 hours. By the end we were definitely ready to be back at our campsite and away from people who partied just a little too hard.

I don't know what we were doing but this is officially my favorite picture of my dad and I.

Gang's all here!

All in all, a nice weekend away and already looking forward to next year!

Remember way back to four weeks ago when I bragged about my sweet $2 garage sale find tv tables?

No?

I almost don't either it's been so long.


Oh yeah, those!

Well I finally got around to finishing this project just in time for the Pinterest Challenge! Yay!

Young House Love

Nothing like the call of a challenge to get my butt in gear. When you last saw the tables they had been primed and painted white.


And that is how they sat for three weeks. Because apparently I am chevron challenged.

I've already told you about my love of chevron and I so desperately wanted to bring some pattern into my living room. I watched tutorial after tutorial and could NOT get it right. I used painter's tape, my Cricut, a ruler, gridlines...anything I could get my hands on to create some beautiful chevron action on these tables but alas it just wasn't going to work. And as much as I wanted to purchase a stencil, that wasn't in the budget.

So instead, I present my new striped tables!



I absolutely love them!

They were a pretty simple project too since I had already had all the supplies needed to spruce them up on hand from my desk project. In case you're wondering, they have a coat of primer, two coats of white semi-gloss paint, one coat for the stripes, and one coat of poly.

The boyfriend and I tried them last night and they work perfectly, just the right height to enjoy dinner while on the couch.

 Today, I pulled one over to make a temporary side table.


Love it!

Make sure you head over to Bower Power and YoungHouse Love to check out the hundreds of projects linked up, there are always some projects that just blow my mind. And while your at it check out my other Pinterest Challenge projects:

Crayon Wreath

Pottery Barn Inspired Desk

Anyone else troubled with chevron creation (or is that just me?) Did you create anything for the Challenge? Leave a comment with a link to your project so I can check it out. Thanks for stopping by!

Do you see that?

It's "Time to get ready!"

It. Is. July.

It can't be time!

But as much as I want to whine and moan, I am starting to think about getting into my classroom and beginning of the year hoopla. Once I see the school supplies I always get a bit giddy, just can't help it. Exactly 30 days until I have to report for back to school meetings.

Only 30 more days to have a leisurely breakfast, mid-morning workout, read my blogs while laughing with Kathie Lee and Hoda, and do just about whatever I want.

Better make them count!

Woo to the hoo, it's Friday and my impromptu blog hiatus is finished. Where have I been? Read on to find out!

1. The past week and half has been spent finishing my master's degree. I am putting the finishing touches on my portfolio today and submitting that sucker. After 6 semesters, 10 classes, and ridiculous amounts of work, I am donezo! Hello pay raise!

2. I got to have dinner with one of my best friend's from grade school a couple of weeks ago. We hadn't seen each other in about 3 years and we picked up like it was nothing. It was great and I had such a good time!

3. Last Friday, Chris and I went to his best friend's sister's wedding (follow that?). It was hand's down one of the most fun weddings I've been to. They are a Venezulean family and besides all the Spanish and latin music, they had "hora de loca" or crazy time in which we all put on masks, grabbed maracas, and did one of the craziest conga lines ever!

Totally rocking some butterfly wings!

4. In June, Chris and I focused on setting and keeping a budget and I'm proud to report that we tracked every penny and each ended the month with money leftover! We went over budget in some areas but it really was eye-opening to see where our money was going. We already set up July's budget and are going strong.

5. I made my birthday list this week. A high five for birthday presents and a low five for getting ready to turn 27. Oh man, I'm getting a old!

Hope you have had a great week and have an even better weekend! I'm linking up with Lauren over at From My Grey Desk for her High Five for Friday party. Go check it out and find some new blogs to follow!